Senate Passes $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

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“Anyone involved in this effort can be proud of what this institution has accomplished today – the Senate is doing its job,” said Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman.

With a bipartisan victory pocketed, the Democrats quickly turned to a more partisan initiative, a second social policy package that would fulfill the rest of their spending priorities. The Senate’s $3.5 trillion social policy budgetExpected to cross the party line late Tuesday or early Wednesday, it would allow Senate committees to pass a bill full of policies that address climate change, health, education and paid family and medical leave, and circumvent the threat of a scammer. . It will also include tax increases and is expected to generate unanimous Republican opposition.

“Despite this long road we’ve taken, we’ve finally reached the finish line,” Majority Leader New York Senator Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday. But directing his comments to colleagues who want to take on untapped priorities, he added, “We’re taking a second path that will create a generational transformation.”

The Senate vote limited months of grueling deliberation between the Biden administration and senators from both parties over the scope and size of an infrastructure bill. Then shortened effort to work with Senator Shelley Moore CapitoBiden turned his focus to a group of 10 moderate Republicans and Democrats who helped reconcile in December paving the way for a post-election pandemic relief package. .

Senators and senior White House officials debated for weeks over how to structure and fund legislation over late-night meals, virtual meetings and phone calls. It took a month to turn that framework into legislation, even after the group triumphantly announced a draft in June. Along the way, the effort appeared on the verge of collapse after failing a test vote in the Senate and Mr Trump sniping at it from the sidelines, trying to convince Republicans they would pay a steep political price to support them.

“I don’t think it’s in the interests of the country when there are more people on both sides of the aisle who want to do things in a partisan way rather than figuring out how we can work together,” Senator Jeanne said. Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and one of the key negotiators, said in an interview. “It was really important to the ongoing relationships that are so important to getting things done within the Senate.”

Negotiators were baffled, especially by the question of how they would pay for their plans. Republicans have declared they will not support any legislation that increases taxes and rejects a proposal to strengthen the IRS enforcement against tax fraud, and Democrats have refused to increase user fees for drivers.

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